Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.11

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11]

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

[break]

Prabhupāda: Next?

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

[break] ...brahma iti—known as Brahman; paramātmā iti—known as Paramātmā; bhagavān iti—known as Bhagavān; śabdyate—it so sounded.

[01:38]

Translation: "Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān."

Prabhupāda:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11]

So, the Absolute Truth is realized in three different features, according to the capacity of realization of the person. Those who are trying to approach the Absolute Truth by exercise of the senses, they can reach up to the point of impersonal Brahman. Those who are searching out the Absolute Truth by meditation, by mystic yogic practices, they can realize the Paramātmā feature of the Absolute Truth. And those who are engaged in devotional service, they realize the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Actually, we have to reach to the point of Personality of Godhead, person. Before that, Brahman realization and Paramātmā realization, that is partial realization of the Absolute Truth, because Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahmaṅaḥ ahaṁ pratiṣṭhā [Bg 14.27]. The impersonal Brahman is resting on Kṛṣṅa. Just like the sunshine.

Sunshine is very all-embracing, wide, widely spread all over the universe, the sunshine. But the sunshine is resting on the sun globe. We see the sun globe, localized. It is floating in one corner of this universal sky. But the sunshine is covering the whole universe. That does not mean the sunshine is more important than the sun globe.

And if you can penetrate within the sun globe, then you'll find there is sun-god. That is also mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg 4.1].

[The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.]

Kṛṣṅa says that "This yoga system, bhakti-yoga system, as they are mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, it was first explained to the sun-god, Vivasvān." The śāstra gives us the name of the predominating deity of the sun globe.

Just like any gentleman can know or give the name of your president, Mr. Nixon. He might not have seen, but he knows that the present president of USA is Mr. Nixon. Similarly, actually those who are in knowledge, they know who are the predominating deities of the different planet. They know. Not to speak of others; Kṛṣṅa, who can know better than Him? Vedāhaṁ samatītāni [Bg 7.26]. Kṛṣṅa knows past, present and future.

So He's saying that imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg 4.1]: "This imperishable yoga system, bhakti-yoga..." It is imperishable, avyayam. This very word is very significant. Bhakti-yoga is imperishable. Other yoga systems may be perishable, but bhakti-yoga is not perishable. Whatever you execute in this life, bhakti-yoga, that becomes your permanent asset, so that in the next life you can begin from the point where you ended in this life.

If you can finish in this life cent per cent, that is very nice. If not... Suppose you have finished fifty percent. Still it is permanent asset. It will never be lost. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says avyayam, inexhaustible. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg 4.1].

[The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.]

So here we find that the Absolute Truth is realized as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Bhagavān is the ultimate, the last word in the understanding of the Absolute Truth. Unless you come to the point of Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa...

Bhagavān means original Bhagavān is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

All other Bhagavāns, They are expansion, plenary or part of the plenary expansion of Bhagavān, Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam. So in the spiritual world also one has to go farther and farther until he reaches to the point of Kṛṣṅa. That is ultimate progress.

It is said therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā,

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19]

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

After many, many births understanding the Brahman... Brahman understanding is certainly transcendental, but because Brahman is only partial realization of the Absolute Truth, only the eternity... The Absolute Truth is eternal, blissful, knowledgeable, cognizant. So Brahman realization means realization of the eternity portion. Paramātmā realization is knowledgeable. Paramātmā knows everything. Paramātmā is present in everyone's heart, and He knows everyone's activities. But actual realization, complete realization, means ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda.

That ānanda-realization is in Kṛṣṅa-realization. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].

[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]

Kṛṣṅa is by nature jolly, always full of bliss. You have seen the picture of Kṛṣṅa. He's always, tri-bhaṅga-murāri, with two hands, with, playing on flute, surrounded by the gopīs, enjoying. That is blissfulness.

So brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11],

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

step by step. But if you approach Kṛṣṅa and try to understand Him through devotional service, then automatically you understand Brahman and Paramātmā. There is no need of separate endeavor for understanding Brahman and Paramātmā. Anyone who knows Kṛṣṅa tattvataḥ, in fact... Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So one has to know Kṛṣṅa in tattvataḥ, as He is.

So this tattvataḥ means accept the process of devotional service. Tattvataḥ, Kṛṣṅa as He is, cannot be understood by the other methods, namely by mental speculation or mystic yogic exercises. Kṛṣṅa cannot be understood in that way. If we want to understand Kṛṣṅa, then we have to accept the Kṛṣṅa method, bhakti method.

That is plainly spoken by Kṛṣṅa: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

Kṛṣṅa does not say that you can know Him by mental exercises or yogic practices. No. Yogī can know... Tad-gata manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ [SB 12.13.1].

[Sūta Gosvāmī said: Unto that personality whom Brahmā, Varuṅa, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise by chanting transcendental hymns and reciting the Vedas with all their corollaries, pada-kramas and Upaniṣads, to whom the chanters of the Sāma Veda always sing, whom the perfected yogīs see within their minds after fixing themselves in trance and becoming fully absorbed in thoughts of Him, and whose limit can never be found by any demigod or demon—unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead I offer my humble obeisances.]

Yogī also, by meditation they see Kṛṣṅa. That is real yoga. As it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, the first-class yogī is he who always thinks of Kṛṣṅa within himself.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

That is first-class yogī.

So you are thinking of Kṛṣṅa by chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa because the more you practice, immediately with your chanting, the name, the form, the quality, the pastimes, everything will be revealed. As we go on cleansing our dirty heart by chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, and as we chant faultless, offenseless harer nāma, Kṛṣṅa reveals. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234].

[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṅa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]

By service attitude, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra without any offense, then Kṛṣṅa will reveal Himself.

You cannot try to see Kṛṣṅa by your speculation or yogic practice. If you simply submissively, surrendering yourself, chant His holy name... There is no difference between Kṛṣṅa's name and Kṛṣṅa. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ [Cc Madhya 17.133].

[The holy name of Kṛṣṅa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṅa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṅa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṅa Himself. Since Kṛṣṅa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṅa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa Himself are identical.]

People generally ask that what is the meaning of chanting this Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. We explain, you know, chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra means immediately, directly associating with Kṛṣṅa.

One has to approach Kṛṣṅa by yogic practice or mental speculation for many, many births. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

They can come to the conclusion that "Here is Kṛṣṅa." Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti. But if you take to this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra without any offense, then immediately you contact Kṛṣṅa. You save so much time. Why should you wait for many, many births?

That is the gift of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. It is in the śāstra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not give you anything which is not in the śāstra. He's ācārya, although He's God Himself. He can make śāstra. Whatever He does, whatever He speaks, that is śāstra. But still, because He's playing the part of ācārya, He immediately gives Vedic evidences. That is the way of ācārya.

Ācāryas will never say, "I think," "It is in my opinion." No. Such things are not accepted. No personal opinion. It must be supported by Vedic evidences. That is called paramparā system, genuine system of understanding. As Kṛṣṅa says, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2].

[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]

No change.

Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. We do not change. We have no power to change. Then where is the authority of Bhagavad-gītā? I am a third-class man, and if I change the statements in the Bhagavad-gītā, then where is the authority of Bhagavad-gītā? That is going on. Therefore it is practically... You have got experience that there are hundreds of Bhagavad-gītā edition in the Western countries, but because we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, our sale is better than all others.

There is the report from the trade manager of Macmillan Company. He says, "While other editions are dwindling, going down, this edition is coming up." They published our this present enlarged edition of Bhagavad-gītā, fifty thousand in the month of August. They are going to print again, second edition, August, September, October. So the reason is that if we present things as they are, it will be accepted. Without any adulteration.

Sometimes, you know, people say that I have done miracles. They say everywhere. But I do not know anything miracles or magic. If there is any miracle, that miracle is that we present things as they are, that's all, without any adulteration. So that should be the principle. Present as it is: it will be accepted.

So Bhagavān. Brahmeti paramātmeti. We, we do not present brahmā-jñāna. Brahmā-jñāna automatically comes if one is conversant with the knowledge of Kṛṣṅa. Then he can understand that this Brahman effulgence is the bodily rays of Kṛṣṅa.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi- koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.40]

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]

So we immediately understand that this brahma-jyoti, impersonal effulgence of brahma-jyoti, is the rays of Kṛṣṅa's body. Yasya prabhā. Kṛṣṅa also confirms this in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahmaṅo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ [Bg 10.8].

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

Kṛṣṅa says everything is emanating from Him. The Brahman is also emanation from Him. Paramātmā is also expansion of Kṛṣṅa.

So therefore if you understand Kṛṣṅa tattvataḥ, yo māṁ vetti tattvataḥ... So tattva is that Kṛṣṅa, the Absolute Truth, is originally a person. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

He's the supreme eternal, nitya. He's the supreme living being. As we are living being, living entities, Kṛṣṅa is also living entity.

He's not a dead stone. He's living entity. And as we have got all the propensities of living entity, He has got all the propensities of living entity. Here we are pervertedly... A young boy likes to love a young girl. A young girl likes to love a young boy. But wherefrom these natural propensities come? Because it is there in Kṛṣṅa. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ [Bg 10.8].

So there cannot be any question of impersonalism. Because by studying the sample living entity, you can understand the chief living entity. Kṛṣṅa is the chief living entity, supreme living entity. So we are samples. Whatever propensities we have got, Kṛṣṅa has also got. But we have got in a limited proportion; Kṛṣṅa has got unlimited proportion. The...

Take the same example, the loving propensity, yupat..., yuvatīnāṁ yathā yuna, this is natural. But we may finish... Because it is perverted, we may finish these loving propensities within time and space. But Kṛṣṅa's loving propensity is not finished within time and space. It is eternal. That is the difference between Kṛṣṅa and ourself.

So if we actually study Kṛṣṅa... The Bhagavad-gītā is the Kṛṣṅa science, and it is further explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So the Bhāga..., Bhāgava..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explaining in tattva, in fact, in truth, what is Kṛṣṅa. So if we learn Kṛṣṅa, if we understand Kṛṣṅa, then our life is fulfilled. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

So this is our only business. Try to understand what is Kṛṣṅa, what is Bhagavān. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3].

[If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of all controllers, one can understand everything else.]

If you simply try to understand Kṛṣṅa through authorities, through Kṛṣṅa, through ācāryas, not mental concoction, manufacturing something... Kṛṣṅa should be understood through the authorities. Kṛṣṅa's love affair with Rādhārāṅī should be understood through the authorities. Not that because we see Kṛṣṅa is just like a young boy, Rādhārāṅī is young girl, if we see here, it is very nice... Of course, it is very nice, but if we do not try to understand Kṛṣṅa through the authorities, we shall be misled.

Therefore in the beginning one should not try to understand the loving affairs of Kṛṣṅa with the gopīs. Then... Because it appears like ordinary dealings. But if we do not go through the authorities, we shall take Kṛṣṅa as ordinary boy or man, as it is warned in the Bhagavad-gītā, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

Because He's acting just like a young boy, if we do not try to understand tattvataḥ, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11],

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

in fact, in truth, through the authorities... Because here it is: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam. Tattva-vit. Yei kṛṣṅa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya [Cc Madhya 8.128].

[Whether one is a brāhmaṅa, a sannyāsī or a śūdra—regardless of what he is—he can become a spiritual master if he knows the science of Kṛṣṅa.]

So guru means kṛṣṅa-tattva-vit, one who knows about Kṛṣṅa.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He explains about Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa explains about Himself. The Gosvāmīs, ṣaḍ-gosvāmīs, they are explaining about Kṛṣṅa. And in their paramparā system, the ācāryas, they are also explaining Kṛṣṅa. So if we do not go through these tattva-vits, then we'll misunderstand Kṛṣṅa.

Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, rūpa-raghunātha-pade hoibe ākuti, kabe hāma bujhabo se jugala-pīriti [Gaurāṅga Bolite Habe].

[When shall I be very much eager to study the books left by the Six Gosvāmīs? One has to learn of the conjugal loving affairs of Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa through the teachings of these Six Gosvamīs.]

All of a sudden if you become a knower of the jugala-pīriti, love of Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa, then there is chance of becoming fallen. There is chance. So we should... Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11].

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

We must approach the tattva-vit, one who knows the truth; through them, through him, we should try to understand Kṛṣṅa. Not simply by...

Therefore they're ma..., committing so many mistakes. Even scholars like Dr. Radhakrishnan and others, they're committing so many mistakes—because they do not go through tattva-vit. There are so many political leaders who are commenting on Kṛṣṅa's book without knowing Kṛṣṅa, without any knowledge of Kṛṣṅa. Just see their impudencies.

Without knowing Kṛṣṅa, they want to make trade with Kṛṣṅa. That is not very good. You cannot make trade commodity, Kṛṣṅa as trade commodity. You cannot handle Kṛṣṅa by your whims. Let you be handled by the Kṛṣṅa's whims. Then you'll be successful. Then... My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "Don't try to see Kṛṣṅa; do something so that Kṛṣṅa may see you." That is wanted.

If Kṛṣṅa, if you can draw little attention of Kṛṣṅa, yat kāruṅya-katākṣa-vaibhavavatām [Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5]. Katākṣa-vaibhavavatām, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says. If you somehow or other you can draw little attention of Kṛṣṅa, your life is successful. Immediately. And how you can draw? Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti [Bg 18.55]:

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

simply by serving Kṛṣṅa. Take service, take to service of Kṛṣṅa, as it is ordered by the spiritual master. Because spiritual master is the representative of Kṛṣṅa. We cannot approach Kṛṣṅa directly. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ.

If you have bona fide spiritual master, representative of Kṛṣṅa, it is also not very difficult. Everyone can become representative of Kṛṣṅa. How? If you simply carry the message of Kṛṣṅa without any adulteration. That's all. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā [Cc Madhya 7.128],

[Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.]

"You become a spiritual master under My order." So if you carry out the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṅa, then you become guru. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā.

Unfortunately, we do not wish to carry out order of the ācāryas. We manufacture our own ways. We have got practical experience how a great institution was lost by whimsical ways. Without carrying out the order of the spiritual master they manufactured something, and the whole thing was lost. Therefore Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura stresses very much on the words of the spiritual master. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana [Bg 2.41]. If you stick to the order of spiritual master, then, without caring for your own convenience or inconvenience, then you become perfect.

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23]

[Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.]

This is the confirmation of all authorities. We have to carry out very faithfully the order of the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṅa. Then our life is successful. Then we can understand Kṛṣṅa in truth. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11].

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

We have to hear from the tattva-vit, not from the so-called scholars and politicians. No. One who knows the truth, you have to hear from him. And if you stick to that principle, then you understand everything very clearly.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! All glories... [end]